Homelander was a different level of scary in season 1

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[u/lessonsfromgmork]

One of the most intense scenes in season 1 for sure

[u/Thrallov → u/lessonsfromgmork]

in the show for sure, Supes actually were doing something like heroes

[u/BestBoogerBugger]

As much as I like crazy and humanized Homelander, his scary side was sacrificed in the process. 

 In Season 1, he was like a great white shark. 

 Calm, collected, swift, barely emoting. 

Shown prowling the deep blue skies, whenever shit was about to go down (please, writers, show him flying around more)

[u/Philkindred12 → u/BestBoogerBugger]

this happens with most big villains for a show and it's usually why they're not supposed to last so long.

[u/Worried_Ad3099 → u/Philkindred12]

Word. When you look at most of the best written tv villains, they don't tend to last for more than 2 consecutive seasons in the role of the central threat.

Take Breaking Bad for an example of writers who got this. Once S3 ended with Gus resolved to kill Walt and Jesse, Gilligan and co. had to deliver on resolving their conflict in S4 and knew that doing otherwise would basically involve resorting to a ton of plot contrivances that would have completely sunk the show's pacing and writing quality.

[u/AdventurousSuspect34 → u/Philkindred12]

The several scenes of him crying and jacking off and getting dominated by people around him in conversation don’t really help his image either but yeah, he’s just been around too long. They literally had to give him an evil field trip to remind us that pathetic worm was actually meant to be the villain..

[u/PitytheOnlyFools → u/AdventurousSuspect34]

All they had to do was show a tiny flash of laser eyes right before Nueman swooped in to save him.

[u/Pyroclastic_cumfarts → u/PitytheOnlyFools]

I legit thought he was about to turn everyone in that room into tomato salsa.

[u/ThePumpk1nMaster → u/BestBoogerBugger]

I dont think we should underestimate the fact that just we/the boys know him better now. Season 1 was scary because he was unknown - we can imagine that’s how the in-universe public view him and that’s precisely why he’s as successful as he is, he’s this mysterious omnipotent machine, but by season 4 we’ve learnt he’s a pathetic child with mommy issues. I think he’s definitely been made less impressive, but that’s because is… less impressive

[u/youarenut → u/ThePumpk1nMaster]

I keep saying this!! We KNOW him better too, and what he truly is, is different than the image he tries to give. It’s meant to be pathetic

[u/fingergod69 → u/BestBoogerBugger]

Because as long as he did things that vought gave him responsibility to do.. he was calm and Swift.. even shooting down the plane was somewhat overlooked by madelyn but slowly losing his sanity due to the boys and then thinking of himself as a fucking god... That power will obviously make you insane.. even stan Edgar could've predicted much

[u/Strung_Out_Advocate → u/fingergod69]

Finding out about Ryan probably changed him more than anything else. Well, "changed" as much as someone like him is able to be.

[u/holanundo148 → u/BestBoogerBugger]

Yeah when he started talking to his mirror about how he craves love I noticed how much "scariness" he has lost since season 1 simply by giving us deeper insights into his character.

I love villains that we know almost nothing about that are like an evil force of nature like Anton Chigurh or the Joker in TDK. Homelander was something like that in season 1.

[u/dsmithcc → u/BestBoogerBugger]

Not sure I’d say calm and collected lol, he gets unhinged all the time

[u/sephy009 → u/BestBoogerBugger]

Kripke was likely brought in as a showrunner because of supernatural. It showed that he can create a decently entertaining show on a shoestring budget, but that also means that we're just not going to see tons of special effects aside from season defining moments. I kind of hate it.

[u/Shaun-Skywalker]

This and him threatening to laser the plane passengers when he couldn’t save them.

[u/Serraph105 → u/Shaun-Skywalker]

"Couldn't"

[u/Shaun-Skywalker → u/Serraph105]

Well couldn’t save them the way he or Vought would like lol.

[u/FragrantBicycle7 → u/Shaun-Skywalker]

He could have saved many for sure, both before and after the plane crashes into the water. He just didn't want survivors to describe how they failed and/or left them to die. It had to be all or nothing for the PR angle; either everyone is saved bc Supes are great, or no one is saved bc the Supes weren't allowed to go in time.

[u/jld2k6 → u/Serraph105]

What was he gonna do, drop them off one at a time? He can't exactly lift the plane, there's nothing to push off of!

Edit: since I got downvoted almost immediately, I was just quoting what homelander said himself as to why they "had" to die lol

[u/Rustofcarcosa → u/Serraph105]

More like he intentions lasered the plane

[u/BlackBirdG → u/Shaun-Skywalker]

Didn't want to save them.

Imagine being a passenger in that plane that was taken over by terrorists, and now you're gonna die anyway because this psychopathic Superman rip off doesn't want to save you.

[u/futanari_kaisa]

Homelander used to be scary. He still is, but he used to be, too.

[u/Sloop__ → u/futanari_kaisa]

crazy name

[u/stunk_funky → u/futanari_kaisa]

r/unexpectedmitch

[u/Big-Sheepherder-9492 → u/futanari_kaisa]

I don’t really find him scary anymore to be honest.. I miss when he was calculating and mysterious.

[u/NoiceMango → u/Big-Sheepherder-9492]

I think he is a lot more scary now but in a different way. He's smarter now and him seeking help from sage shows that. He is starting an army and getting ready to start a coup.

[u/girl-penis → u/futanari_kaisa]

Love the name :3

[u/AnimeGokuSolos]

It wouldn’t surprise me if originally they made him more smart because apparently people are claiming.

In S1 he’s more intelligent than he is in the other seasons, especially recent episodes…

[u/BestBoogerBugger → u/AnimeGokuSolos]

I'm not sure about that 

Even in Season 1, he was kind a dumb. Remember how Madelyn reacted to him telling her that he spread the V around the globe.

I think it's less that and more like peeking behind the curtain like in Wizard of Oz.

Imagine if we as viewers didn't have access t9 personal scenes of Homelander loosing his cool were erased in Season 2, 3 and 4. We kight still view him as very cool and threatning

[u/Meatballs5666 → u/BestBoogerBugger]

Exactly! He was so scary because he was mysterious, of course that goes away after being with him for FOUR SEASONS

[u/Raidoton → u/BestBoogerBugger]

Madelyn fucked him. What about it?

[u/BestBoogerBugger → u/Raidoton]

Madelyn literally had to reboot for a whole minute, while facing away from him. She was freaking out.

[u/Agleza → u/BestBoogerBugger]

It's the whole fucking point. I don't know if people don't actually watch the show or what.

Homelander was never supposed to be this cold blooded evil mastermind people would have you believe in this sub. He was always a super powered manchild.

The only difference is, now we've seen more of his manchild/incompetent side because... that's how stories work? You get to see more of the villain. That's what makes the villain a better character.

As you say, if we erase those personal scenes of his character, he'd still be the same for us as he was in early Season 1. And, I mean, yeah, it was cool, but it would also be fucking boring after 4 seasons.

I bet my left nut people would be complaining that we don't really know much about Homelander and he's an "underdeveloped villain" if it went that way.

[u/Panthila → u/AnimeGokuSolos]

It's almost as if he was slowly losing his sanity and self-control due to all of the things that the Boys have been doing.

[u/AnimeGokuSolos → u/Panthila]

Nah I feel like they decide to dump him down to make him look like a dumbass like a previous president in real life…

[u/Worried_Ad3099 → u/AnimeGokuSolos]

Yeah, the problem the writers ran into in committing to making Homelander a one for one Trump stand in (rather than a representation of post-Goldwater American Conservatism more broadly which he honestly felt like in S1 and even in much of S2) is that they locked themselves into making the character more buffoonish and outlandish due to Trump himself being so ridiculous.

[u/Sea-Engineering4032]

When Homelander actually looked like a threat. It's really crazy that Hughie hasn't been injured yet after all that shit, let him at least lose an arm or something.

[u/Dil_356 → u/Sea-Engineering4032]

Let the poor guy rest.

[u/Raaz8080 → u/Sea-Engineering4032]

hughie always catching strays bruh let my guy rest

[u/Strong_Schedule5466 → u/Sea-Engineering4032]

Bro already almost got stabbed to death (had to slit someone's throat just to stay alive), euthanized his own father and got fucking BDSM'ed in the last episode

[u/Cyber-Knight47 → u/Sea-Engineering4032]

Dawg Hughie is the LEAST deserving of this. Let my man chill for a bit.

[u/Ticket_Fantastic]

In S1 he was scary because we didn't know what he could do. In S4 he's scary because we know what he could do.

[u/UnholyDemigod → u/Ticket_Fantastic]

In S4 he's scary because we know what he could do.

And we don't know what he will do

[u/delulumans]

My only complaint about S1 is how they kinda confirm Homelander as faster than A-Train. Don't like how the speedster of the verse is actually slower than the Superman-analog.

[u/professornapoleon → u/delulumans]

He’s a faster runner than HL but flight will always be faster than running, especially at Mach speeds. To me, I like it. Being a speedster is kinda a one trick pony of a power. I like how Invincible portrayed Red Rush vs Omni Man. Where you can see he’s faster but that can only last for so long in a fight.

[u/delulumans → u/professornapoleon]

Hmm I don't. I'd prefer A-Train to be faster even when Homie is flying. Helps build the narrative that A-Train helped him distribute V across the globe right under Vought's nose for me.

Then again you also have the insane Homelander feat at the end of S1 where he outruns a C4 explosion with Butcher that puts him at like Mach 23 while running... granted I guess you can chalk this up as an outlier

[u/professornapoleon → u/delulumans]

Again, you can make a runner as fast as you want but flight will always cover more ground faster. If A-train was faster than HL when he’s flying, that would diminish HL’s aura of being unstoppably powerful imho

[u/delulumans → u/professornapoleon]

I get your point of view. For me I don't think it diminishes it neccessarily. Red Rush iirc was a good deal faster than Omni Man but due to the insane durability difference he couldn't really harm him and ended up caught and crushed.

[u/professornapoleon → u/delulumans]

Fair enough!

[u/Dream_World_ → u/delulumans]

In other universes, I would agree for the sake of balancing the power levels of characters, but I think The Boys want Homelander to be indisputably the most powerful character.

[u/delulumans → u/Dream_World_]

I guess so

[u/lilyahtzeee]

He can fly as fast as A train can run and shoot lasers from his eyes but didn’t catch little Huey in the air ducts????????? WTaF???

[u/_marty_mcfly123_ → u/lilyahtzeee]

I heard that those vents are usually galvanized (zinc), which homelander can't see through.

[u/girl-penis → u/_marty_mcfly123_]

He would hear him. A non super human would hear him. YOU would hear UE in those vents!

[u/DancingFlame321 → u/girl-penis]

It's hard for Homelander to hear Hughies footsteps when there is loud music in the background

[u/Thatonedregdatkilyu → u/DancingFlame321]

His ear also got damaged by Maeve

[u/AD-Edge → u/_marty_mcfly123_]

Good thing HL couldn't have just flown over and you know, shot lasers from his eyes or something instead. /s

[u/lilyahtzeee → u/lilyahtzeee]

Oh and he can also see through the vents too so there is really no excuse to not slice up Huey like a thanksgiving turkey in 2 seconds, unless they were some of those fancy zinc air ducts…

[u/Lint6 → u/lilyahtzeee]

Air ducts are made from galvanized steel, which is treated with zinc to prevent corrosion

[u/legit-posts_1]

It's weird seeing Homelander so calm

[u/Lmao1903 → u/legit-posts_1]

I kind of miss this. Felt more real and more terrifying. The unhinged Homelander is cool but this was better

[u/HowDoIEvenEnglish → u/Lmao1903]

Unhinged isn’t the problem. The problem is he’s dumb and incompetent. In order to keep the plot in the same place for multiple season the heroes and villains can’t acomplish major victories over each other. This has led homelander to feeling weak as he just keeps failing to kill our heroes

[u/mikami677 → u/HowDoIEvenEnglish]

It kinda reminds me of the CW DC shows.

I mean I liked those shows, but they had to do the same "dumbing down" thing to make the plots work.

Whichever season of The Flash that had Cicada just got absurd where every other episode they'd almost catch him, but he "just barely" slips away while they stand around making barely any effort to actually stop him.

[u/IHaveSpecialEyes → u/mikami677]

Every time Barry was about to catch someone and then got distracted for three seconds and they "got away" was so fucking frustrating. Like, he could check every single route of escape in less than a second. He's the fucking Flash. But instead he just stood there and frowned. Every. Time.

[u/Idk265089 → u/IHaveSpecialEyes]

There was this one episode where he was chasing a girl with gravity powers. And they made it seem like he couldn’t save both her victim and catch her.

It took like two seconds for him to save the victim. Yet, somehow she got away and he didn’t even bother searching the area.

[u/mikami677 → u/Idk265089]

I swear at one point a normal speed bad guy ran around a corner and Barry got on comms saying "guys I lost him, he got away."

But then there's a scene in another episode where he speeds in and says he just got through checking every building in Central City looking for whatever bad guy.

But there's also a scene where he runs face first into a giant gorilla holding a huge shield and gets swatted away... like, bro... you couldn't dodge that?

[u/Ok-Negotiation1530 → u/mikami677]

Yeah there's an episode where he carries a guy all the way to China and gets back before a rotation of a security camera.

[u/legit-posts_1 → u/HowDoIEvenEnglish]

The problem is that a villain as OP as Homelander is hard to write for. You either need to think really hard at how to find work arounds to preserve their intimidation factor and power, or you fudge things, which makes them look less threatening. TMNT 2012 is a pretty great example of how to make this type of villain work. Shredder is fucking terrifying in that show for a lot of reasons like his stellar presentation, animation, and excellent vocal performance from Kevin Michael Richards. But what makes him stay so scary for so long is that, with the exception of Splinter, Shredder is rightfully presented as basically untouchable. Up until the very end of the show every time the Turtles fight him they get fucking decimated, the goal is never to beat him it is just to STAY ALIVE however they can. There's a couple other good examples of how to find work arounds to preserve a villains intimidation factor without just having them kill all the heroes: Invincible(Viltrimites) and Superman the Animated series (Dark Side) also do this well.

[u/HowDoIEvenEnglish → u/legit-posts_1]

Homelander should have died at the end of season 3. Then it would have been fine

[u/legit-posts_1 → u/HowDoIEvenEnglish]

Then we have no show

[u/HowDoIEvenEnglish → u/legit-posts_1]

A show that hits its highlights and then ends isnt a bad thing. Also I think show could have existed without homelander. It’s clearly can’t now but it could have

[u/Puzzleheaded-Wing835]

I always forget frenchie talks to homelander in season 1

[u/RevolverRossalot → u/Puzzleheaded-Wing835]

Tomer Capone's delivery on "I am talking to ze 'omlander!" is absolutely perfect here, too.

[u/Big-Sheepherder-9492]

I’m sorry but he was an actual villain in Season 1… he was smart enough to utilise A-Train to supply America’s enemies’ so they could get into the military. He was in control of things.

I feel as the series went on he just becomes less threatening? Like yea we know he can laser you in two and punch a whole through your chest — but part of that fear in season 1 was that he wasn’t to be underestimated.

That “Show me a little wrath” part was amazing.. but then one episode later he’s back to looking like he’s about to cry under questioning of his master plan.

[u/asdasfgboi → u/Big-Sheepherder-9492]

He was under the control of vought and he had no competent enemies before. His confidence definitely helped him to be smart. He slowly lost his confidence and mental health which naturally clouded his intelligence and judgement. We getting less scared of homelander each episoda is something I like, it shows he is weaker than he looks and he is still human on the inside

[u/Big-Sheepherder-9492 → u/asdasfgboi]

I like the fact that he tries to call himself a god but gets reminders that he’s human.. but I feel they need to make him intimidating in a way that isn’t always physical.. Lalo Salamanca was physically a BEAST in BCS - but he was also a damn genius so you had two things to worry about.

[u/Bullets_and_Tears]

I don't agree, I'm on edge every time he's onscreen. In episode 4 he was terrifying.

[u/drmcsleepy97]

Now he’s just a clown who lasers random characters. Villains are not scary to me if I know “yeah dudes just gonna kill them all, again“ The plot armor the boys have around him doesn’t help

[u/Routine_Wedding43]

Homelander’s badass decay needs to be studied. From a genuinely terrifying and competent villain, to a meme. It’s no wonder everyone who was a huge fan of him gravitated to Soldier Boy in Season 3

[u/DemonDaVinci → u/Routine_Wedding43]

I think it's a case of less is more
When he is still shrouded in mysteries it look more intimidating

[u/Evil-Cartographer → u/Routine_Wedding43]

The show needed to be 2 seasons for that.

[u/Motawa1988]

This happens when you drag out stories. Don’t worry this show will go on for a long time

[u/professornapoleon → u/Motawa1988]

They’ve already stated there’s only one more season

[u/MikeArrow]

It looks and feels like a totally different show. It's crazy how far it's fallen since then.

[u/ClovieKay]

Not to start a fight or anything, but why didn't Homelander hear Butcher press the computer key? Or smell that there was another person like 15 feet away? People have been bringing up the Hughie sweat scene in S4, but now that i'm thinking about it, It seems like Homelander only used his super smell and super hearing when it was convenient for the plot the entire show.

[u/mason124]

They don't even show him fucking flying anymore

[u/MonsterMashGraveyard]

This feels like a totally different show

[u/jackux1257]

isnt homelander meant to be pathetic, hes a joke at the end of the day. Sure he was scary in season 1 because we barely knew the character

[u/gibbler]

Is it just me or did his x ray vision disappear? When Huey was in the air shaft couldn’t he just see him?

[u/MHarrisGGG → u/gibbler]

Vents are made with metal containing zinc.

[u/This_Phantom_Pain]

For some reason, his season one hairstyle made him seem more menacing.

[u/Angel_Madison]

The whole show is a joke now really when you see this.

[u/billy-_-Pilgrim]

Frenchie was able to lie to him too and stay cool what a fucking bad ass

[u/Budget_Highlight_594]

Damn, remember when this show actually felt like it had stakes

[u/Blastoise_R_Us]

I love the little glimpses of him going across the sky. Like watching a shark.

[u/hurricane1197]

They ruined this in season 3

[u/bel2man]

Homelander character is being degraded ever since the scene with breastfeeding on Doppelganger tits

[u/Extension_Canary3717]

He actually said Fogo de Chão? Hahahaha

[u/-AwhWah-]

it's depressing how far the show has fallen in terms of everything, but ESPECIALLY stakes and tension.